Ray Guy's long wait ends with his Hall of Fame induction

After a long wait, Hall of Fame moment arrives for Raiders great

Ray Guy stands for a portrait on the University of Southern Mississippi's football field on July 24, 2014 in Hattiesburg. Guy, a punter for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders from 1973-1986, was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame on February 1, 2014.

Ray Guy stands for a portrait on the University of Southern...

If Ray Guy waited 22 years to get elected to the Hall of Fame because voters thought punters weren't "real" athletes, then it's obvious they weren't fully informed.

After all, the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Guy was a starting safety at Southern Mississippi and was a good enough pitcher that he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros. In fact, on the first day of Oakland's training camp his rookie year in 1973, Guy thought nothing of it when he ran on the field with the defense.

"I jumped up and ran in to cover (Fred) Biletnikoff, just like I would have in college. I guess old habits are hard to break," Guy said, laughing. "Man, John (Madden) went ballistic."

The coach was shocked more than angry.

"I asked him what the heck he was doing," Madden said. "And he said that (director of player personnel) Ron Wolf told him he could play defense. I told him that Ron lied to him."

But Guy would, besides kicking the ball to the sun, run receiver routes in practice and become the team's emergency third-string quarterback.

"I just wanted to be part of the team any way I could," Guy said. "I wanted to play."

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"He threw harder than (Ken) Stabler," Madden said. "There is no question he was a real football player. I just didn't let him play. He was too valuable as a punter."

Hall of Fame voters were slow to catch on, though, and Guy, 64, was a finalist seven times starting in 1992 without getting in. But after being selected as the Senior Committee's nominee this year, Guy - along with his 44,493 yards of kicks and three Super Bowl rings, and the worthiness of the position of punter - finally will be recognized in Canton, Ohio, this Saturday when he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Madden will present him.

"I would tell our quarterbacks that they should never worry about throwing the ball away on third down," Madden said. "Because the worst thing that could happen was Ray would come in and punt. And that was pretty good. He was the best punter ever."

The seven-time Pro Bowler's punts would hang in the air for what seemed like minutes, and his career average was 42.4 yards. Only three of his 1,049 punts were blocked, and he wouldn't always just kill the ball - Guy became quite good at pinning opponents inside the 20-yard line.

He was a game-changer, something he and Raiders players and coaches felt was ignored when he was passed over all those years by Hall of Fame voters. Former coach Tom Flores remembers a play in Los Angeles' 38-9 Super Bowl XVIII victory where Guy went high to snare a bad snap with one hand and quickly get off a 42-yard punt.

Washington "would have had the ball in scoring position," Flores said. "Who knows what would have happened?"

What did happen was the Raiders won their third - and, to date, their last - championship.

"It doesn't matter how long you play in the game," Guy said. "It matters what you do on the one play that matters, the one that makes a difference between winning and losing."

In hindsight, he certainly was worthy of being the first punter ever selected in the first round of the NFL draft when Al Davis chose him in 1973. Of course, Guy's new teammates didn't have the benefit of hindsight; they just thought the late owner was crazy.

"When we picked a punter in the first round ... " former Raiders safety George Atkinson said. "The players were all like, 'What is Al doing?' You know, the first round is for skill players, quarterbacks, running backs. ... We thought Al was slipping a bit.

"Turns out Al got one of the biggest weapons in the league."

Atkinson also returned punts, and was one of the first to see the new arrival's arsenal.

"His ball was something different than other punters," Atkinson said. "It went straight up and you could barely see it, and then it was like a brick dropping out of the sky."

One time in the Pro Bowl, Guy hit the Superdome scoreboard 90 feet above the field. But he has no secret as to how he developed his hang time.

"Just kicking the ball around the farm growing up," Guy said. "Looking for something to do."

Guy was born in Swainsboro, Ga., and his family moved a couple of times before he arrived in Thomson, Ga., as a soon-to-be legendary eighth-grader. At Thomson High, Guy, playing with a broken wrist, scored the go-ahead touchdown in the state championship game in the fall, then threw a 15-inning shutout in the spring. That was in his junior season. His senior year, Guy blocked an extra point and a potential game-winning field goal to win the Georgia state title game.

"Everybody in town called him 'Wonderboy,' " former teammate Bob Wilson said. "There wasn't anything he couldn't do. Football, baseball, basketball, even learned how to do the triple jump and won in a track meet in the same day."

Guy went on to play at Southern Mississippi, falling in love with the growing campus and city of Hattiesburg after an assistant coach urged him to take a visit. He maintained a home there during his career with the Raiders before returning to Georgia following the death of his father in 1990.

Financial problems plagued Guy from that point on, and not even a return to Hattiesburg for an on-campus job could save him from an embarrassing, but necessary move.

In 2011, he was forced to declare bankruptcy and put his three Super Bowl rings up for auction. They sold for $96,000.

"It's been a long up-and-down road," Guy said. "Everyone goes through tough times, and I am no different. Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do.

"I am a fighter, and I didn't want to sell those rings. I told myself I would figure it out, and I only dug the hole deeper for myself. Then ... I had to face the facts, that I had to do it to get my life back in order.

"I do have a lot of regret about selling those rings, and maybe one day I can get them back, but I had to do it so that I could start enjoying my life again."

A big part of that was his return to Hattiesburg in 2007, after the school approached him about a job in public relations, marketing and fundraising as special projects manager.

"It's been great to help this university grow, especially after remembering how it was when I first showed up 40 years ago," Guy said. "Hattiesburg is my home, and besides my family and my Raiders family, my family here is really excited about this weekend."

Guy, who is divorced now, said his two kids, other family members and about a dozen former teammates and coaches will be on hand for Saturday's ceremony in Canton. The wait made the whole thing sweeter, especially considering how upset he became about the snub over the years.

"It never got to the point where I was convinced I wouldn't get in. ... It was close. It definitely played on my mind," Guy said. "What frustrated me the most was the perception that a punter wasn't important enough, didn't belong alongside the big legends that played the 'whole' game.

"Try playing the game without a punter. Go in there with 10 players and see what happens."

Besides his duties at the school, Guy also teaches punting camps throughout the year.

"It was tough for a while there, explaining to kids in my camp - from 6 years old to college kids - why I wasn't in," Guy said. "I didn't want to tell them this is not good enough, important enough to get in the Hall of Fame, 'Go do something else.' ...

"That's why being the first punter selected is not only an honor, but a new beginning for myself and the kids out there kicking a football around."

Ray Guy

Born: Dec. 22, 1949, Swainsboro, Ga.

Residence: Hattiesburg, Miss.

College: Southern Miss

Drafted: First round (23rd overall) in 1973 by the Raiders

Career: In 14 seasons, punted 1,049 times - only three were blocked - and had a career average of 42.4 yards.

Awards: 2014 Hall of Fame; seven-time Pro Bowler; three-time All-Pro; and namesake of the Ray Guy Award, presented annually to the nation's top college punter